MURRIETA: Holdups suspected as a series

Investigators keeping an eye on robbery spree

An armed robber suspected in Sunday's robbery of a Murrieta
juice store could be linked to similar crimes occurring throughout
the county, Murrieta police officials said Monday.

Five robberies have occurred at Murrieta businesses, including
one Sunday at Juice It Up on Clinton Keith Road, and police believe
they are probably the work of a serial robber.

A man whose face was covered with a dark-colored bandanna and
who had a Spanish accent entered the store armed with a
semiautomatic handgun. He demanded money from a female employee,
said Murrieta police Sgt. Ron Driscoll in a news release.

She gave him money from the register, and then he stole more
from the store's safe, Driscoll said.

The robber warned the employee to sit on the floor and wait 10
to 15 minutes or else he would shoot her through the store's glass
windows, Driscoll said.

Murrieta police are investigating the robberies and have reached
out to local businesses, providing them with safety tips so they
can be proactive in attempting to prevent incidents, said Murrieta
police Lt. Dennis Vrooman on Monday.

"There is a good possibility they may be linked," he said. "We
are working with other agencies to determine if that is
accurate."

Riverside County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Joe Borja said there
has been a rash of robberies in Riverside County and some appear to
be similar.

"But there is no evidence to link any of them together at this
time," said Borja, whose previous assignments include investigating
homicides.

In recent months, robberies have occurred at ice cream, yogurt,
sandwich and juice shops as well as hair salons in communities
including Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee, and Perris. Many occur when
women or younger people are on duty, according to authorities and
previous news releases.

The common element is that the robber conceals his face and is
armed with a black or dark semiautomatic handgun. After taking
money, he orders the employees to stay in a back room for a period
of time and warns they will be shot if they don't comply, according
to news releases from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and
the Murrieta Police Department.

In January, authorities announced they were looking for one man
they believe to be responsible for a series of robberies in the
Perris and Menifee areas that occurred in December and January.

The robberies were at a Baskin-Robbins, the Future Styles Hair
Salon and Mendez Meat Market in Perris, and Jay's Barber Shop in
Menifee, according to a news release. The robber wore a cloth over
his face and brandished a semiautomatic pistol during the
robberies, according to the release by sheriff's Sgt. Kevin
Smith.

While the suspect in the Perris and Menifee robberies was
described as a Latino man in his early 20s, about 5-foot-8 and
weighing about 150 pounds, the robber in Sunday's heist in Murrieta
was described as 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds.

In some cases, such as two February robberies in Temecula, the
suspect's height and weight were not included in news releases. The
robber involved in these two incidents, however, operated in a
similar fashion and in both cases was armed with a black or
matte-silver semiautomatic handgun and ordered the employees into a
back room.

On Feb 13, the Subway on Winchester Road was robbed by a man who
had a T-shirt pulled up over the lower half of his face, according
to the news release.

He was described as Latino in his late 20s to mid-30s. A day
earlier, Feb. 12, the Supercuts on Murrieta Hot Springs Road was
robbed by a Latino man in his 20s or 30s, who covered the lower
portion of his face with what appeared to be a black bandanna,
according to a department news release.

One quality that all the robberies share is that no one has been
hurt, authorities said.